With only three weeks left until the first committee deadline, ARRM’s legislative priorities continue to receive hearings in both the House and Senate.
Last week, two of ARRM’s bills got their first hearing in the Senate Human Services Committee. Our proposals that would increase rates for ICFs (SF 756) as well as our bill that would change licensing requirements for AOST (SF 758) were heard and laid over for possible inclusion in the Senate Human Service Omnibus bill.
On Thursday, the House Human Service Finance Committee held a hearing on HF 2, the Paid Family Leave proposal. ARRM’s contract lobbyist, Phil Griffin, testified on behalf of ARRM and stressed the importance of increasing reimbursement rates for providers when implementing any new mandated benefit for employees. You can view the full hearing here.
In addition to testifying at bill hearings, ARRM staff also met with Department staff to review their technical assistance and overall feedback to both our AOST and IHST Service change proposals. We are now working on amendments to incorporate feedback from the Department and will continue to work on refining the proposals as the session moves forward.
This coming week we have quite a few hearings scheduled, including:
- Monday, February 20th: The House Human Service Policy will hear ARRM’s ICS proposal (HF 1416)
- Monday, February 20th: The Senate Human Services will hear SF 2, Paid Family Leave, ARRM is planning to testify.
- Tuesday, February 21st: The House Human Service Finance will hear ARRM’s AOST (HF 339) and IHST Service Change language (HF 716)
- Thursday, February 23rd: The House Human Service Finance will hear ARRM’s Workforce Grant legislation (HF 813)
Please reach out with any questions.
--Sara Grafstrom, Director of State and Federal Policy